As the snow drifts past my window under cloudy skies, I’m counting the days until I can take my telescope out again and prowl the night sky. What did the groundhog say – two more weeks of winter? I think he was mistaken…
For those of us in need of some armchair astronomy to tide us over until the white stuff starts to melt again, try out the WorldWide Telescope (WWT) which was recently launched by Microsoft. This free software allows you to turn your computer into a virtual observatory. You can either download the software onto your computer or use the WWT online.
The WWT combines imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world. Says the WWT website:
Now you can use WorldWide Telescope (WWT) to explore the features of Mars as never before, thanks to the addition of more than 13,000 incredibly detailed images of Mars from various NASA spacecraft. Zoom in on the Red Planet and experience the Martian surface in unbelievably lifelike 3-D rendering, and learn more about our planetary neighbor with new interactive guided tours of Mars. And the enhancements to WWT don’t stop there. Now the WWT view of the night sky is even more amazing, with a seamless, high-resolution representation that smooths out the contours between discrete images. Gone are the visible “tiles” – those sharp edges where individual telescopic photos were combined to create the night sky panorama. This enhanced view, called the Terapixel sky image, provides an extraordinary sensation of panning the sky with the world’s most powerful telescope.
If you are a Mac user like myself, you still have access to the WWT online either through the MS branded cross-platform program Sliverlight – or just ignore the pop-up boxes and stay in Firefox, that worked as well. However, it appears as though you can’t create any sky tours if you’re on a Mac, which is a great shame. I understand that Microsoft spent the big bucks to create the WWT, but if they were truly interested in the advancement of science they would have developed a cross-platform software, rather than pushing their brand down our throats.
If you’ve installed WWT – or if you’re a Mac-o-phile and are just browsing online – let us know what you think!
